Decision for a Day, or Dedicated Disciple

While local church Sports Outreach Ministries and sports-oriented, para-ministries believe they strongly agree on the vital importance of evangelism, they may not realize the other group often applies a different meaning to the term evangelism.  To many within the para-ministry world, it is defined as a “decision for the day.”  Conversely, the way most of The Church world perceives the end goal of evangelism can best be described by the term: “dedicated disciple.”  Thus, it follows, if the end goal of “a decision for a day” evangelism is to have someone raise a hand, fill out a form, say a prayer, or go forward at a meeting, then a ministry’s philosophy and all subsequent methodologies will be conceived and implemented to have these “decisions for a day” occur.  However, if the end goal is to “go and make disciples,” both the philosophies and methodologies will be significantly different.  The efforts to establish life-long, dedicated disciples entail a longer view and different approach.

For example, if a particular congregation and/or denomination believe the end of their efforts are to have participants in their sports and rec activities pray a prayer to receive Christ then the thrust of their endeavors go into creating opportunities for that.  By contrast, if churches and denominations believe the end goal is baptism, church membership, attendance at church services, financial contributions to the church and/or participation in a bible study or disciple group, then they will organize their ministries towards those ends.  The reality is, most churches tend to tip towards either evangelism (the initial efforts to reach those far from Christ) or towards discipleship (developing disciples to full spiritual maturity).  Churches stress only one end of the continuum to the overall detriment of all involved.  It is to this concern and for this reason; CSRM chooses to use the term evangelistic-disciplemaking.  The reason it does so will be explored over the next number of blogs….

The next blog will continue the discussion on evangelistic-disciplemaking and its relevance to Local Church Sport, Rec & Fitness Ministry
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This blog is an excerpt from chapter #2 of Dr. Linville's yet to be released book – Sports Ministry Fundamentals.  All rights reserved.  For any reproduction right, including copying, computer reproduction, etc. contact:

Dr. Greg Linville at CSRM International C/O The World Outreach Center 5350 Broadmoor Circle N. w. Canton, Ohio – USA 44709 or glinville@csrm.org
 
Other blogs and articles on Local Church Sports, sports theology and ethics written by Dr. Greg Linville and other local church Sports, Rec & Fitness Ministers are archived at: http://www.csrm.org/blog/archives/05-2016

Local Church Sports, Recreation & Fitness Ministry
 

A most insidious disconnect exists on a core Level #1 Theological Truth.  This disconnect is in reference to evangelism and is closely connected to the theological area officially designated Soteriology – the theology of salvation.  When properly understood, this disconnect will explain to both local church and Para-ministry leaders why they are often at logger-heads with each other, and why their evangelistic efforts are often not successful.
This subtle, insidious disconnect lies in the fact that Church and ministry leaders compartmentalize evangelism and discipleship into separate endeavors, rather than viewing the two in conjunction with each other and perceiving them as a unified, whole continuum.  There is a huge difference between viewing The Church’s primary task to be the dual efforts of Evangelism and Discipleship, as opposed to a single-focused and unified effort.  I describe this single-focused effort by the term: “Evangelistic-disciplemaking.”  I believe this is a distinction with a profound difference, and becomes clearly seen as it is manifested in the divergence of the two approaches as practiced by sports-related para-ministries and local churches.
 
The next blog will describe the difference between seeking “decisions for a day” and “going to make life-long disciples” and its relevance to Local Church Sport, Rec & Fitness Ministry
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This blog is an excerpt from chapter #2 of Dr. Linville's yet to be released book – Sports Ministry Fundamentals.  All rights reserved.  For any reproduction right, including copying, computer reproduction, etc. contact:

Dr. Greg Linville at CSRM International C/O The World Outreach Center 5350 Broadmoor Circle N. w. Canton, Ohio – USA 44709 or glinville@csrm.org
 
Other blogs and articles on Local Church Sports, sports theology and ethics written by Dr. Greg Linville and other local church Sports, Rec & Fitness Ministers are archived at: http://www.csrm.org/blog/archives/05-2016

The Sacraments in Relationship to The Sports Outreach Movement
This series of blogs is generally discussing the topic of Ecclesiology (The Theology of The Church) in relationship to local church Sport, Recreation and Fitness Ministry.  Previous blogs have dealt with the Biblical concepts and mandates of The Church, its purpose function and the responsibility of individual Christians.  This blog deals with the subject of the sacraments.

While the three great strands of Christianity disagree on the number of and the understanding of the Sacraments they do agree on the general vital importance of Sacraments.  Catholic and Orthodox traditions share in the belief there are seven Sacraments whereas Protestants claim only two, often calling them Ordinances.  However, all traditions place a very high priority on the regular receiving of, and participation in the Sacraments.  The relevance of the Sacraments in regards to athletes, coaches and Sports Outreach Ministry has to do with the fact that commitments to sport most often preclude participation in the Sacraments for coaches and athletes; a result of athletes participating in sporting activities on the Lord’s Day.  The implications of this should be apparent.  Christian athletes and coaches, along with Sports Outreach Ministries need to evaluate their priorities and find a way to reconcile their sporting commitments so as to be able to regularly participate in a local congregation’s activities including the receiving of the Sacraments.

Summary of Obligations and Participation in a Local Church
As this blog series on Ecclesiology concludes, it becomes apparent there are few good reasons to participate in non-church sponsored Sunday Sport and many great reasons not to.  However, I do believe a case can be made for a local congregation incorporating Sunday sport and recreation into an overall ministry plan.  To state it even stronger, I believe a church would find combining recreational and sporting activities with traditional Lord’s Day worship services, Christian Education classes, youth, children and other outreach ministries not only strategic and relevant, but more importantly well within the theological mandates and biblically-based Level #2 Philosophical Principles of the scriptures.  The key distinction is all such activities are church sponsored and they both support and enhance the purpose, function and evangelistic-disciplemaking endeavors of The Church
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This blog is an excerpt from Dr. Linville's book yet to be released book – Sports Ministry Fundamentals.  All rights reserved.  For any reproduction right, including copying, computer reproduction, etc. contact:


Dr. Greg Linville at CSRM International C/O The World Outreach Center 5350 Broadmoor Circle N. w. Canton, Ohio – USA 44709 or glinville@csrm.org
 
Other blogs and articles on Local Church Sports, sports theology and ethics written by Dr. Greg Linville and other local church Sports, Rec & Fitness Ministers are archived at: www.csrm.org
 

Communicating One’s Faith Through Sports Related “Proclamation Platforms”
As discussed in the previous blog, most Christian sportspeople want to maximize their sports opportunities for the glory of God and including being able to verbally encourage others to consider becoming a disciple of Christ.  Therefore, it would seem counter-intuitive to ask these sincere people to consider forgoing participating in sport on Sunday.  However, there is most often a surprising unintended result that occurs when Christian consistently participate in sporting activities on the Lord’s Day; especially when it clearly conflicts with traditional times for church worship services!  These well-intentioned and properly motivated intentions often have the exact opposite effect of that which is desired by Sports Outreach Evangelists!  By participating in sport on Sunday, athletes subtly communicate church is a lower priority than sport itself.  Most often, those who are far from Christ realize the ones who call themselves Christians deem sport a higher priority than church…. well, you can draw your own conclusions.  The question must be asked: “What does skipping church to participate in sport really communicate?”

A far better argument can be made for someone who forgoes attending church to reach out to those playing sport on Sunday but does not participate in sport so as to clearly communicate they are there for ministry, rather than arguing for playing sport for evangelistic reasons.  (I further elaborate this point in my book on the Fundamentals of Sports Outreach Ministry of which this blog is excerpted from).  To repeatedly show up at sporting events for the express purpose of reaching those who play sport is made far more powerful when the “evangelists” don’t participate, than when they do, especially if they are good enough athletes to compete!  The reason is, their purpose for showing up at the sporting events is clear: They are there for spiritual reasons, not athletic pursuits!  When participating in the sport, their motives are not clearly communicated.  The validity of this argument is made obvious by seeing the result in the numbers of people who show up at a Sunday sport event to “evangelize” as compared to those who would come if they could “play.”  It is even more apparent by assessing how many of those team-members end up coming to church, coming to Christ and actively grow in their faith!
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The next blog in this series will how sporting involvements preclude receiving the sacraments
 
This blog is an excerpt from Dr. Linville's book yet to be released book – Sports Ministry Fundamentals.  All rights reserved.  For any reproduction right, including copying, computer reproduction, etc. contact:


Dr. Greg Linville at CSRM International C/O The World Outreach Center 5350 Broadmoor Circle N. w. Canton, Ohio – USA 44709 or glinville@csrm.org
 
Other blogs and articles on Local Church Sports, sports theology and ethics written by Dr. Greg Linville and other local church Sports, Rec & Fitness Ministers are archived at: www.csrm.org
 

Relationships and Fellowship
This series of blogs is in the midst of a discussion about how vitally important it is to regularly participate in a local church’s activities for the enhancement of personal faith.  In fact, one’s faith is always enhanced by and through the personal relationships and regular fellowship with other believers.  Whether the relationships are peer-based or more of a mentor to a mentee, consistent and sustained fellowship is crucial to one’s spiritual journey.  Furthermore, accountability partners are a must for anyone serious about growing in their faith.  This latter area however, is one that is easiest met on days, and at times, other than Sunday.  Times for such activities can be much easier scheduled around sporting commitments and this point should not be used to deter any sporting involvement.  However, one’s personal growth is only one side of why a “sporty” Christian should be committed to regular participation in a local congregation’s activities…

One of the most overlooked aspects of the conflict between sports commitments and church participation is the loss to a church of the gifts, skills, passions and leadership of sportspeople who choose not to attend church functions when they conflict with sporting commitments.  The Body of Christ is always negatively impacted when any individual and/or specific groups of people self-select to not be regularly involved in local church ministries, outreaches and activities.  There is yet another key element of this point that often goes overlooked…

One of the prime rationales given by sporting people for their commitment to sports is they have a goal to reach the sporting world by using their sporting gifts and positions (proclamation platforms) for the benefit of the gospel.  They should be highly commended and encouraged for this but I would challenge them to consider how much more effective they could be for the kingdom by applying their sporting gifts and position to a local church sports outreach ministry!  Further implications of this are taken up in the Missiology and Soteriology chapters of the book from which this blog is an excerpt and also from the following blog in this series.
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The next blog in this series will further contemplate the concept of sharing one’s faith through sporting opportunities
 
This blog is an excerpt from Dr. Linville's book yet to be released book – Sports Ministry Fundamentals.  All rights reserved.  For any reproduction right, including copying, computer reproduction, etc. contact:


Dr. Greg Linville at CSRM International C/O The World Outreach Center 5350 Broadmoor Circle N. w. Canton, Ohio – USA 44709 or glinville@csrm.org
 
Other blogs and articles on Local Church Sports, sports theology and ethics written by Dr. Greg Linville and other local church Sports, Rec & Fitness Ministers are archived at: www.csrm.org